


bold of you to assume

by battleshidge (Amiria_Raven)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Conventions, Cosplay, Crush, F/M, Implied Relationship, Streamers - Freeform, idk man suggest tags, online video game au, this is for d0g-bless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:22:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22340998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amiria_Raven/pseuds/battleshidge
Summary: He snorts in her ear, and she grins to herself. It’s always a feat to make him break out of his stern leadership role, and Pidge makes it a personal goal to do it at least once a stream. She wipes her grin off her face quickly, though, because she knows her face is on the stream somewhere and she doesn’t want them to see her goofing off. Or, y’know, enjoying herself, heaven forbid. It would ruin her image.Besides, their fanbase has been growing even more lately and they have some...wild ideas.
Relationships: Pidge | Katie Holt/Shiro
Comments: 12
Kudos: 101





	bold of you to assume

**Author's Note:**

  * For [d0g-bless (d0gbless)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/d0gbless/gifts).



> THIS IS FOR SYDNEY. REQUESTED IT ON A BAD DAY IN...DECEMBER??? and I said I'd write it and I took. WAY TOO LONG. Because what's writing??? But here it is!!! I hope you like it Sydneeeeeeyyyyyyy!!! <3 <3 <3

Pidge doesn’t quite expect Shiro when she meets him in the starter town. He’s level eleven and should be two towns further than this, and he’s geared with equipment that is better suited for a class on the complete opposite side of the spectrum from the champion he’s playing.  _ Noob _ , she thinks, but her brother’s always telling her to be nicer to people. Besides, it’s late and no one else is around and she can’t bully Matt since he’s not on, so she sends a message into general chat.

_ [Pidge]: you lost? _

She waits for a few moments and almost gives up. He’s probably AFK and ten minutes hasn’t passed yet so his status hasn’t updated, or something. She’s getting ready to head to the griffin stables and fly off, back to an area that’s closer to her level or even to the commissioner in a larger city where she could queue for a PvP match of some sort, when she sees general chat move in the corner of her eye.

_ [Shiro]: were you talking to me? _

Maybe she could have tagged him, she thinks to herself.

“Nah, I was talking to the other noob standing in the middle of town in the wrong gear,” she snarks to herself, then laughs.

_ [Pidge]: yeah. you lost?  _

_ [Shiro]: sort of? I was supposed to go to Nordberg, but I think I went in a circle. _

Nordberg? Six levels ago maybe.

_ [Pidge]: you’re the right level to go to surdveg now, tho _

_ [Shiro]: Isn’t that after Nordberg? _

_ [Pidge]: yeah, but nordberg’s for lvl 3-8 usually. you must’ve got really lost, to hit lvl 11 without doing the nordberg quests _

_ [Shiro]: Oops? _

Pidge laughs out loud. She can’t help it, and shakes her head.

_ [Pidge]: want some help? _

_ [Shiro]: Are you offering to give me directions? Please! _

_ [Pidge]: i’ll do ya one better. hang on and look out for a message from gunderson, okay? _

She emotes a  _ goodbye _ and logs off in a quick moment, then switches to her lower level character. She loves her enchanter, but her warlock’s a lot closer to  _ Shiro _ ’s level, so it will have to do.  _ Gunderson _ is level 9, and she’s an experienced player. If she can coach this little newbie champion into using his taunts and taking all the aggro, she’ll catch up to his level in no time and they’ll be able to level up until he gets the hang of it.

Luckily,  _ Gunderson _ is still in Nordberg, so she’s able to take a minute to run down the path back to the starter town of Bron. The region’s general chat, which she’d used moments ago to speak with  _ Shiro _ , moves while she’s on her jog back, and she sees his confusion.

_ [Shiro]: what’s Gunderson? _

_ [Shiro]: oh...you’re gone? _

She snorts, but then takes pity and clicks into chat and flips to private messages.

_ [Gunderson]: it’s still me, pidge. _

_ [Gunderson]: do you know how to use the private chats or party chats yet? _

She sends him a party invite immediately after, as she tops a hill and sees the little village through the trees. She reaches for her drink as her auto run brings her down the path to the town.

_ [Shiro]: I don’t, sorry. _

The message is in the general chat. 

Pidge sighs to herself, but she can’t deny she’s amused as he accepts her party request. She opens party chat and then drops a few instructions on how to get there in the message box, and then goes on to talk to him about how the green dot he should see on his minimap is her.

He learns fast, and is embarrassed when she points out how wrong for him his gear is. They fix that quickly, too, and before she realizes, it’s four in the morning and he’s excusing himself, saying he’s sorry for keeping her up and that he has to be up early in the morning. She chuckles to herself, but assures him that it was no big deal.

They’re level 21 now, the both of them. It’s been a good time, too.

She might stick with her alt for a while, Pidge thinks to herself.

* * *

It isn’t long before  _ Shiro _ ’s max level right alongside her, and while they’ve built a good synergy playing together as  _ Shiro _ and  _ Gunderson _ the whole way, it’s even better when she switches back to playing  _ Pidge _ . Her warlock abilities as  _ Gunderson _ were a lot of damage over time rather than burst, while  _ Shiro _ has taken a balanced route and ended up with a lot of sustain, which made for slow progress at upper levels.  _ Pidge _ , however, is Pidge’s pride and joy, and not just because she’s earned her nickname because she named her mage that from the start. And when she’s able to bring her mage back out alongside  _ Shiro _ , their duo is so much better. She’s got a lot more burst, a bunch of roots and area of effect attacks, and he’s got his taunts and aggro. 

She’s honestly been bored with  _ Legendary Defender _ , until she met him. She’s been playing to appease her brother, who still plays, and Lance and Hunk. Her synergy with her team has been all over the place for ages, though, because no one’s a true leader and no one’s willing to follow each other...but that changes, she knows, when Shiro (whose name is, unsurprisingly, the same as his character’s) comes into the picture. And he learns fast. So fast, in fact, that he’s able to coordinate their ragtag group– _ and _ Keith–in raids and dungeons.

Then Lance brings the idea up–they’re one of the top groups, they’ve been doing well in competitive PvP–so why don’t they start streaming, too?

They’re in voice chat all the time, anyway, and it’s not like most of them haven’t streamed once or twice in the past. Shiro’s the only one without a lot of experience in streaming with MMOs, but they walk him through it pretty easily and he has some offline help from his best friend, he tells them, and then they start their first big stream with a simple little PvP match, the  _ Voltron Alliance _ versus the  _ Garrison _ .

After a while, Pidge and Shiro start hosting the livestreams together, or as well as they can from separate locations. They can’t trust Lance to do it, because he’ll get distracted or go on tangents, like the famous one about the importance of skin routines that may have gone a little viral, to everyone else’s dismay. At least they still won that match. Lance and Keith hosting together is a recipe for disaster with all the arguing they do, even if some of their audience enjoys it, and Hunk’s too nervous and flat out refuses if they ask if he wants to. Plus, the synergy that Pidge has had with Shiro since she first found him in Bron when he was a lost level 11 champion with all the wrong gear has proved a great combo, both in game and in banter.

Shiro’s generally polite and serious until the others get on his nerves, and Pidge is just a casual troll, and that’s apparently a combination that people like watching, even more than Lance and Keith’s constant bickering, because their team has started to gain a bigger following.

They’ve got 3,487 people watching their latest stream live, according to Lance.

“Stop checking the stats of the stream and check your stats in the game, Blue,” she snarks when he tells them that, and he protests that he was waiting to rez. “Maybe if you were focused, you wouldn’t be waiting to rez.”

“ _ Pidge, c’mon, _ ” he whined, but she just snorted.

“Guys,” Shiro’s voice is a bit louder, because they’re co-hosting again, “Focus.”

“I don’t know what you mean, Shiro,” she snorts, taking a shot over his character’s shoulder and downing the warrior that’s been charging at him. Keith’s assassin’s backstabbing move has also done its work–the bleed damage is unreal, when he applies the Nalduran dragon poison they’d spent a week farming to the edges of his daggers. Bleed and poison make for great damage over time, and Keith’s an ace at sneaking up on his enemies. “I’m perfectly focused.”

“Pidge.”

“Watch your nine,” she quips instead as she drops an area of effect flash freeze over there to slow the rogue trying to blindside him. “Remember, captain,  _ patience yields focus _ .”

He snorts in her ear, and she grins to herself. It’s always a feat to make him break out of his stern leadership role, and Pidge makes it a personal goal to do it at least once a stream. She wipes her grin off her face quickly, though, because she knows her face is on the stream somewhere and she doesn’t want them to see her goofing off. Or, y’know,  _ enjoying herself _ , heaven forbid. It would ruin her image.

Besides, their fanbase has been growing even  _ more _ lately and they have some...wild ideas.

Not that she doesn’t actually like Shiro, not that she wouldn’t date him, but she’s never even met him in person yet. And she’s never been as cognizant of the public eye as she is now that they’ve been streaming more and have a bit of a following. She knows how fanbases are, and she’s already seen how little it takes. She’s just been caught a bit off guard by how they’ve actually been choosing  _ her _ as one part of their fixation. Somehow.

“Pidge, use your cloaking buff,” Shiro’s steady voice breaks through her thoughts a bit later. “Lance could use the extra cloaking to help snipe, and Keith, we’re about to head to their base. I want you there waiting. Hunk, Pidge, with me.”

“Roger that,” Pidge chirps back, in unison with the others.

She knows she’s made a mistake, reading some of the comments right after they end the stream, where people are going on about whatever  _ tender _ or  _ smitten _ expressions she’s apparently made, or that he’s made during the stream. 

_ It’s so obvious how in love they are you guys petition for them to just admit they’re married or something already!!! _

Pidge blinks, then scrolls past.

_ u g h theres no way they havent met b4 guys theyre so in love i cant stand it _

She blinks again, then scrolls further down. 

_ Shiro, do you ever find yourself thinking about how cute pidge is??? You seem like the type to just sit there and watch the recordings of your streams just to see the lil faces she makes that you don’t get to see in real time and i’m s o b b i n g god _

This one’s followed by someone else.

_ bold of u to assume pidge isn’t the one always thinking about how adorable shiro is when she’s brushin her teeth or smth _

And then:

_ Shit u rite how could I overlook the possibilities smh a;lksdjf;adslf _

“Don’t these kids have anything better to do?” she muses aloud, then finally navigates away from the stream tab. She’s spent 30 minutes catching up on the chat and it’s...well, a lot of the same stuff she’s used to. “Besides,” she stretches as she continues talking to herself, “it’s not like he actually likes me like that, anyway, so there’s no point thinking about it!”

And once the words have slipped out, she feels her face flush. At first, she can’t believe she’s said it and she buries her face in her hands as soon as her stretch ends. She can’t help wondering, at least a little, if he at least thinks she’s cute.

Then, Pidge remembers that she’s often a gremlin.  _ On purpose _ . 

She scraps the idea, hopeful as it was, and pushes herself away after making sure everything is logged out. Matt had messaged a while ago, letting her know he’s left some dinner in the fridge for her for when the stream’s over, with an added comment that they’d been playing well. She remembers that and pulls the idea of food to the forefront of her mind.

_ Food _ , she tells herself, trying to pretend she doesn’t really care too much about whether or not Shiro thinks she’s cute. She’s never exactly been the  _ cute _ type anyway, so it doesn’t bother her if he doesn’t think she’s cute.

Really, it doesn’t.

* * *

They’re streaming.

They’re  _ always _ streaming, her brother jokes to her sometimes. He makes jokes about how he never gets to play with his best friend anymore because his best friend is always invested in their streams. Pidge doesn’t really think much of it, until they’re in a brief downtime between rounds in the new Arena-type PvP mode and they’re answering stream questions while preparing. Someone asks how they got into the game, and Shiro laughs.

“One of my friends–my best friend–told me it was a cool game. I wasn’t sure at first since I haven’t really played an MMO before, but Matt was right about _ Legendary Defender _ ,” Shiro says. “Now that I saw that, I haven’t really played with him much lately because we’ve been streaming so much. He’s pretty good, you guys might have seen him around before or even played with him. He’s a monk named  _ RebelFighter _ .”

“Excuse me.”

Pidge deadpans.

It’s almost instantaneous. Keith snorts and Lance starts guffawing, both loudly, but not as loud as the way Matt bursts into laughter in the next room over. Her door is open, just a little, and she knows his is, since she can hear him.

She pushes her mic up and away from her mouth–an attempt, at least–and sucks in a breath. Hunk starts, “ _ Pidge, please don’t yell– _ ”

“ _ MATT, YOU’RE A PIECE OF SHIT AND IF I WASN’T ON STREAM RIGHT NOW YOU’D BE DEAD _ !”

“Pidge, what are you–” Shiro’s alarmed. She can hear it in his tone, but all she can hear is her pulse in her ears–knowing that her brother is Shiro’s best friend is opening doors she never thought would open, and her traitorous thoughts are getting ahead of her.

_ How close does he live? _

_ Does he live here in town? _

_ Have I actually met him before and just don’t remember it?! _

She moves her mic back down and struggles to control her thoughts and her tone. “I can’t believe your best friend is my  _ shitty brother _ ,” she raises her voice again at the end, and Matt comes into the room, laughing so hard she thinks there might be tears in his eyes.

“Holy Crow, that took you guys  _ forever _ to figure out!” 

“Wait,  _ what _ ?” Shiro, for once, sounds completely off guard. She knows that everyone else can hear Matt, and he’s slipped into the image on her face cam in the stream, wiping definite tears from his eyes. And she sees Shiro’s eyes blown wide on the stream, pulled up on her second monitor, and she knows he’s as surprised as she is. She wonders, briefly, if he also feels as betrayed as she does.

If there’s one good thing to come of this instant, it’s the first time she’s heard Shiro sound so incredulous since early on in their friendship, a few short months ago, when she’d first given him a compliment at doing so damn well for a noob.

The chat explodes.

She should have expected this, but she’s still trying to parse through all the information in her head. It’s a mix of a lot of conflicting emotions, and she hears Shiro finally regain his own composure and catch onto the way chat is exploding.

“Whoa, guys, hold on,” he laughs, a little nervously. “Don’t get too crazy, now. This is a discussion for another time, right, Matt?”

He deliberately looks at the screen. Matt’s still wearing his wireless headset, and since he has the stream playing in his own room he can definitely hear it. He laughs and waves his hand. “Sure, Shiro. Call me later or something and we’ll talk about it then! Your next match is starting soon, so I’ll leave Pidgey-pie alone for now,” he grabs Pidge’s shoulder and shakes it a little, “and I’ll be cheering for you guys!”

Pidge curses at him under her breath, and Lance, still wheezing in the background, snorts again.

Their small fanbase, and the crazy fans in it, get wilder after that.

Pidge starts to hope for an eventual meeting with Shiro again after giving it up a little while back, even as she very deliberately tries to stop checking up on what their modest fanbase is saying.

* * *

Conventions are definitely a new experience as guest panelists.

It’s been just over a year since the fateful day when  _ Pidge _ the mage reached out to the lost level 11 champion  _ Shiro _ in the starter town of Bron and set the wheel turning for the  _ Voltron Alliance _ . She still remembers that night as if it were yesterday, and sometimes she hears Shiro mention it fondly, too.

She thumbs at her badge nervously, and Lance snickers beside her. Pidge scowls and elbows him in the side, and he yelps.

“That’s what you get,” she snarks, letting her badge rest around her neck. They’re sitting in one of the panelist lounges in the hotel that’s hosting the convention, and they’re all waiting for Shiro and Matt to show up. It’ll be the first time that they’ve all been in the same room in person, and at least Hunk looks more noticeably nervous than Pidge. That might be saying something, considering the way she’s been uncharacteristically fidgeting. 

Her crush has only grown in the last eight or so months, since finding out that Shiro’s her brother’s best friend and vice versa, to the point where she can’t even blame the wild ideas of the fanbase for starting it anymore. And while she’s since learned that Shiro’s been hundreds of miles away for months finishing up a graduate degree, and still has a couple of months left after the convention is over, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s going to be moving back to the area after it’s done. Or change the fact that she’s both incredibly excited and unbelievably anxious to meet Shiro in person for the first time. 

Lance hasn’t let her live it down since he realized her crush about three months ago, and neither has Matt, though she trusts him enough to believe him when he tells her that he won’t out her to Shiro.

“You didn’t have to elbow  _ that _ hard, Pidgeroo,” Lance whined, shifting further away from her on the sofa. “Don’t damage the merchandise! What’ll you do if I can’t join for the panels because you fractured my ribs?”

They’ve been invited for a Q&A panel with  _ Legendary Defender _ streamers, as well as a  _ Challenge a Pro Team _ panel, which apparently is new this year. Pidge would have certainly tried it the year before when she’d come as a regular attendee, and would’ve gladly trounced whatever pros she got to play against, but that’s neither here nor there. It probably won’t go over well with con staff if Lance doesn’t show up, no matter the reason, so she just glares at him.

“Don’t exaggerate, Lance,” Keith cuts across from his armchair against the wall, before she can say anything else. She glances over at him. He’s scrolling through his phone, just like Pidge has been doing to keep her mind off of the impending meeting, and is the picture of composure. Or as close as Keith can get, which includes a rather messy ponytail and a skincare routine that’s lacking terribly, according to Lance’s incredibly high expectations.

“Keeeeeeith,” Lance whines, and he flops over the back of the couch he and Pidge are on for dramatic effect, “don’t tell me you’re taking her side?! After she tried to injure me?”

“If that’s all it takes to injure you, I can’t imagine what would happen if she actually punched you. I’m sure she  _ wants _ to, after all.”

Lance huffs indignantly and Pidge just snorts in her most ladylike manner–which is to say, in a manner that is wholly unladylike in every way. She can almost feel Matt bemoaning his fate for having a tomboy of a little sister, in his most obnoxious teasing voice, and she grins to herself some more. Lance wails about her making fun of him and not even doing it out loud where he can hear, and she hears Keith snark something else.

Hunk finally returns then, from the bathrooms attached to the VIP lounge, and sighs.

“Are you guys already at it?”

“Hunk, you know this never stops,” she interjects before the others can say anything, standing and stretching. “Anyway, I’m going to go hit the convention for a while before the panel. Waiting here isn’t going to do anything for  _ my _ nerves. Anyone else going to join?”

Lance, who has already recovered from his bout of childishness, laughs and reaches out to pat her on the shoulder. “Nah, Pidgey-pie, I’ll hit it  _ after _ the panel. Besides, I don’t want to be mobbed by your fans, since you’re going in your character cosplay.”

Pidge looks at herself, plucking idly at one of the many layers of her legendary class robes, and sighs. “You just don’t understand the spirit of it, do you? I’d been working on this off and on all year. Just because we got invited as guests doesn’t mean I’m going to change my original plans for the convention.”

“I’ll join you looking around after the panels,” Hunk tells her, rubbing his stomach nervously. He still looks a little green, but he’s also wearing the high-tier gear his character in  _ Legendary Defender _ does. His armor is heavier than Pidge’s extra layers, for sure, but that’s not why he’s feeling nauseous. She’s known him long enough to know that much, at least.

“Suit yourselves,” she waves her hand as she heads to the door, stepping aside to let some other VIPs into the lounge. “Meet back up in about two hours to get ready for the panel?”

“Sure thing!” Hunk agrees. 

“Later, Pidge!”

* * *

She chats with a few vendors, lets a few people take photos, and snickers quietly when people don’t recognize her and are just complimenting her cosplay of a mage’s max level legendary gear. And then, when she is talking with an artist who’s done a rendition of a different popular PvP team–one that Pidge really  _ wants _ to play against, in fact–she feels a tap on her shoulder.

“Are you...Pidge? Not just your cosplay, I mean. Like, aren’t you  _ Pidge _ ,  _ the _ Pidge, from  _ Voltron Alliance _ ?”

She blinks at him. He’s probably a high school kid, a bit taller than she is, and he’s cosplaying King Alfor from the  _ Legendary Defender _ advertisements, and she grins at him.

“That’s me,” she answers easily, and she hears a soft  _ oh, that’s why she’s familiar _ from the artist behind her. “Nice Alfor.”

The kid blinks again, then grins back. “Thanks! Holy crow, I can’t believe it. Aren’t you guys doing a panel this afternoon? Are the others here, too?” he glances around, as if Hunk and the others would be around her.

“They’re somewhere. They were going to come down later, I think? I don’t keep track of them when we’re not streaming,” she snorts, waving her hand. She also doesn’t want to lie to him, but doesn’t want to give more specific information just in case. “Anyone you wanted to meet in particular?”

“Keith!” he answers instantly, then flushes a little. “I-I mean, it’s really cool to get to see you, too– _ I can’t believe it’s actually you _ –but I play the same class as Keith does, so I just kind of wanted to, uh, talk to him sometime. It’s a pipe dream, but I thought it would be cool!”

_ Keith _ . At first she thinks that’s unexpected, but then she remembers that he’s probably got that mysterious and dark vibe going for him, and that’s what high school kids are into. Plus, he’s top tier in the assassin class.

Pidge opts for teasing. “Oh? And you’re not cosplaying Blade of Marmora gear?”

He groans a little, “C’mon, that’s what Shiro asked me too!”

Her heart squeezes.

“Sh-Shiro?” Pidge will forever deny that her voice cracks on his name, but mercifully, this does not seem to be one of the fans with the strange but not-so-strange ideas, and he completely misses it.

“Yeah, I ran into him about fifteen minutes ago!” he gestures loosely to his left, towards the vendor side of the exhibit hall. “He was with your brother! Oh, but you probably knew that.”

“Haha, yeah,” she forces out, grinning again. “I knew they were heading here together, at least.” Pidge shrugs, turning back to look at the artist’s prints. She and the Alfor cosplayer have stepped aside so that other people can keep browsing the wares. “I haven’t seen them yet, though.” 

_ I’ve never seen Shiro in person, and you beat me to it, and I’m kind of jealous _ , she tries not to actually say, choosing her usual public snark instead of her whining inner self.

“Wait, doesn’t that mean I met him before you?” he blinks. He, at least, remembers their recent posts about how they’ve never met Shiro in person before but that the rest of them attend the same college, or at least did for a while. “Or do you just mean you haven’t seen them since you all came down here?”

She can’t help but laugh, even if she’s still jealous. “No, you’re right, you beat me to it, actually, uh...Alfor.”

“Oh, sorry! My name’s Greg!” he offers a hand, and she shakes it. “I can’t believe it. I met Shiro before  _ you _ did!”

“Nice to meet you, Greg,” she says, then sighs. “Please don’t rub it in, Lance already won’t let me hear the end of it. Oh, by the way,” she reaches down to the many pouches at her waist and pulls out her phone, “can we get a picture?”

“O-oh, yeah, I’ll stop!” He laughs a little nervously and he reaches for his own phone. “Can I get a pic, too?”

Pidge laughs and agrees, and starts to look around to see if there’s someone that can take the photo. And then she hears, “Oh, I’ll take the photos! Here, take another picture with King Alfor!” and her phone disappears from her hand.

Matt, and the person he shoves next to her must be–

“ _ Matt _ , what are you–”

“Look at the camera, guys!” he says cheerfully, and, using his own phone, he snaps a photo more quickly than Pidge can rearrange her face. She knows that’s exactly as he’d planned, too, by the evil grin he sends her way, and she can’t help it as he pulls her phone up to take a photo.

“Matt, I’m going to  _ kill you _ this time, I mean it!” she growls, just as he snaps the picture.

“Wait, is that  _ Pidge _ –?” she hears as she sees the tall man in cosplay next to her start to turn out of the corner of her eye and Greg, the poor kid, starts laughing, and she knows they’re a spectacle now as Matt snaps a photo with Greg’s phone and then switches to what she assumes is Shiro’s phone.

“Pidge, say hello to Shiro!” he snarks, snapping a photo. She doesn’t quite understand how he’s juggling all four phones at once, but that’s Matt for you. “Shiro, the cosplayer next to you is my shrimp of a little sister who goes by Pidge! And King Alfor, again, hope you don’t mind a group picture with these dorks!”

Greg’s still laughing, and Pidge is wondering how red her ears are, and finally she just decides to stop glaring at Matt and turn her head up to meet Shiro’s shocked gaze.

_ Tall _ .

An innocent first thought. And then her gaze trails up across his cosplay armor, his chiseled jaw and shaped cheekbones, and warmth spreads in the pit of her stomach.

_ Handsome _ .

She clears her throat and tries to think of something to say, but she’s a little stuck on how soft the white tuft of his bangs looks and they get caught somewhere in her chest, but she holds out her hand to shake.

Shiro recovers more quickly. He blinks rapidly, then smiles–and his smile is so wide, so warm and welcoming, that she thinks she might drown in it–and takes her hand.

“Nice to finally meet you in person, Pidge,” he speaks, and his voice is a touch deeper than the streams or the chats ever led her to believe, all warmth and sunshine and exceedingly gentle, and she realizes that she is  _ screwed _ . The members of their small but growing fanbase that don’t already suspect anything from her will know immediately how much she likes him in their panels later, she thinks.

“Y-yeah, you too,” she manages, though her voice might crack just a little.

“Although,” his voice lifts and he glances over at Matt, who’s cycling through phones for more pictures of them with Greg now standing next to him and helping, “I think I might believe some of the things you say about your brother now, after all.”

“Can I strangle him?” she asks. In the past, Shiro’s been the one that’s told her she can’t, after all.

“Can I help?” he asks, and Matt squawks indignantly, something about  _ hey, you’re supposed to be my friend _ , but they both ignore him.

“Please do.”

Neither notice for another long minute that their hands are still linked, but Matt won’t let her forget about it later. And that’s fine, because that, at least, is something she’s quite happy to remember.

**Author's Note:**

> THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING!!!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed it! :D it was a fun lil thing I've slowly worked on for like. A month.


End file.
